The goal for this assessment involved active learning. The students were taken outside after a pre-lab period and performed an experiment where they could witness and play the part of the experiment themselves. They were the experiment. The pre-lab allowed for some foundation building and activation of prior knowledge to prepare them for the activity. It was important to have this pre-lab because otherwise the students would be unaware of the reasons for actually performing the experiment and what the applications of the experiment were. So the learning goals for this assessment were to: 1) acivate prior content knowledge, 2) build understanding of the purpose and procedure, 3) create an individualized hypothesis that students discovered on their own that proves their involvement and participation to this point, 4) execute the activity while understanding the goals and implications of the results and data, 5) interpretation of the data and application of it to the hard content science discused in the classroom.
B. Formal Assessment
The goal of this assessment was to incorporate levels 1, 2, and 3 depth of knowledge questions in the quiz through the use of matching, fill-in the blank, and essay questions to accurately determine the level of understanding regarding environmental issues. Levels 1 and 2 provided a chance for the students to regurgitate information that exibits attention skills and general understanding of the core concepts that have been reviewed throughout the unit and should be relatively engrained at this point in the students' minds. Levels 3 and 4 provided the opportunity for the students to take that knowledge and apply it to a situation, or event that required more critical thinking skills.
III. Assessments
A. Description of Informal Assessment
The informal assessment I have chosen comes from a 10th grade College Preparatory Biology class at Chariho High School. The assessment was a lab on natural selection which was divided into 3 parts: Pre-lab (assessment of prior knowledge), Lab (Active participation in learning activity), and the conclusion which allowed for individualized performance assessment and critical thinking aspects of student learning. The assessment examined how a mutation (having use of 5 fingers over 3 fingers) affected the students’ abilities as “birds” to gather food in a pasture, when compared to those with taped fingers. A second variable was included: a predator, which was blindfolded and was roaming around the enclosed pasture. If a student was touched physically, they were “caught/ eaten” by the predator, and were included in the data as “dead”. As 5 rounds were implemented, the beneficial mutation eventually was naturally selected to become more frequently expressed in the population until everyone had use of 5 fingers.
The pre-lab portion included questions designed to prepare the students for the foundational knowledge associated with the lab and the content knowledge associated with it. This also allowed those students who were absent recently to be able to prepare themselves for the lab and get caught up on the lab’s purpose and procedure. For this pre-lab, students identified key vocabulary, determined a purpose, developed a personalized hypothesis, and determined the variables. This portion was completed the first day.
The lab portion included the actual gathering of data, which was gathered outside, individually. The activity was designed to be fun for the students which promoted an atmosphere of participation. Active participation was guaranteed if the students actively participated and completed the pre-lab. This portion was completed the following day.
The conclusion and class data portion was completed at the end of the lab and carried over into the next class period. This involved active discussion during class to determine how the variables affected the results both individually, and class-wide.
The formal assessment I am using is from a 6th grade Earth Science class, which is covering an Environmental Issues unit. After a week and a half of the unit on fossil fuels, watershed pollution, global warming, water conservation, renewable energy and acid rain, a quiz was given to assess their knowledge in the causes, effects and solutions to these issues. The quiz consisted of a matching portion, a fill-in the blank section, and an essay portion. This quiz was designed to incorporate levels 1-4 in the depth of knowledge hierarchy.
High School CP Bio Content (10th grade):
The unit on Evolution began with a discussion on Darwinian evolution, with an emphasis on natural selection.Other scientists were covered as well which aided in Darwin’s theory and our present belief in the theory of Evolution.Content information and evidence for evolution was then provided which included: The origin of life, endosymbiont theory, a poster presentation on scientists and their discoveries, natural selection, Hardy/ Weinberg Equilibrium, homologous structures, embryology, DNA, geologic time, and plate tectonics.
Middle School Earth Science Content (6th Grade):
The unit on Environmental Issues incorporated concepts that emphasized the cause and effect relationships between them.It was also important to show connections between all of the environmental issues.Once students were able to distinguish the cause and effects of a certain environmental issue, the next step was to try to make connections between each issue.The goal was to show the students, and get them to realize for themselves, that the causes of our environmental problems are mostly the same, and the solutions are many.It was also important to introduce the personalized aspect of awareness and personal contributions to solving these issues.
B. Analysis of Informal Assessment
The positives of this assessment were that the students had a great deal of fun doing it. By participating and having fun, and then recording data this allowed them to learn without realizing it. When the class data was compiled, and examined, it became clear that the activity provided about a 90% participation rate, which was also included in the grade (in a small percentage). I noticed on the unit test that many students referred to the results and conclusions from this lab when being asked questions about natural selection, beneficial mutations, and environmental factors for evolution. This goes to show that a kinesthetic activity involving difficult concepts can attract the minds of most students and provide a memory trigger that they can use to recall difficult content information.
The negatives were that some student swere absent for the pre-lab and did not have the necessary time to take advantage of the core purpose of the lab. Some students were able to grasp it and catch up, but others just came along for the fun activity without fully understanding the purpose, and the conclusions and how they relates to evolution and natural selection. Other students just did not care form the beginning, and were obviously in the activity only to disrupt other students efforts. This was handled by "naturally selecting" these individuals to suddenly "die off" with in the population. Their limited and negative involvement did not affect the class data or procedure.
C. Analysis of Formal Assessment
Overall, this assessment provided some challenges to the majority of the 6th grade team. About 25% grasped and used their content knowledge to thoroughly impress me with their ingenuity and enthusiasm in the area. But on the flip side, there are about 5 students who just do not care about studying or doing well in the class. Overall though, I feel like my goals have been met. The critical thinking questions provided some challenge for the upper level students, while still allowing for the majority of the students to provide sensible answers. I also think that the other questions on the quiz provided opportunities for the students to prove their knowledge in the content area.
V. Commentary / Reflection
A. Reflections from Informal Assessment
I initailly wanted to use tothpicks for the lab, but decided to use roman beans instead since the beans will just biodegrade easier without having chemicals from the wood seep into the ground. I had a lot of fun being the predator, and was blindfolded and walking aimlessly around the plot. ( I scared one student really good one time, and its on video). I have this lab saved for next time with some notes as well for tweaking. Those notes include: constructing the apparatii during a free period to allow for more time to be spent on prior knowledge building during pre-lab, Including a section correlating the total amount of beans recieved to the amount of offspring afforded (increased fitness). I also think that by not having all the students present for the lab prevented me form handing back the labs quickly out of fear of plagiarism. This was unfair to the students who participated on time, and according to the plan, since their memory of the event had partially faded when it finally reached their hands. I also like to write comments on the returned work, and if this was seen by tardy students, it would most likely end up as an easy assignment for those students and they would recieve no benefit from my hard work.
B. Reflections from Formal Assessment
I have realized that 6th graders need to be reminded constantly about everything. I had the phrase "study for quiz on friday" on the board for about 4 days, and yet there were numerous kids who were completely surprised when I started handing out the quiz. It astonishes me since they are required to write down their homework in their planner every period. I feel that a review session the day before the quiz day would have been a solid reminder that we were going to have a quiz. Also, as said before, I was not able to hand back and therefore go over the material on the quiz in a quick fashion due to about 5 students who were mysteriously absent on quiz day and a few days folloowing. This was unfortunate for most students who were anxiously awaiting ther results, ans asked me constantly what their grade was. After a few days they lost interest, and this is too bad beacause that interest is what I believe drives their learning and application of knowledge.
VI. Conclusions
Overall, I feel I got the most bang for my dollar from the informal assessment since it was an active, student based learning activity that required active participation and interest in the material to ensure success. This makes sence since learing is much easier when it is fun and interesting. It was also student centered and this put the power into the hands of the students to guide their own learning. If the activity was boring, then it probably would not have been successful. I think the key was that the students were learning and they didn't even realize it.
For the formal assessment, I tried to challenge the class as much as possible, while still allowing for the solutions to be adequately achieved by all students. The team of 6th graders is, as a whole, a very bright group of kids and I think that they do not even realize their own potential. I will try in the future to build relationships with the fading students to get them interested in the subject matter with me, and continue pushing the limits with the higher level thinkers.
Period A
Period B
Period C
75
88
93
98
75
85
60
80
95
95
98
85
93
84
83
70
90
90
95
90
83
85
85
73
78
90
90
63
90
83
75
85
80
100
90
90
90
90
74
68
78
88
98
80
88
78
85
93
83
83
98
58
95
88
65
85
95
85
88
88
98
93
76
80
85
83
100
75
78
83
93
AVG= 82
AVG=86
AVG=86
For this formal assessment, the overall class averages showed a good understanding of the material.With a range of 60-100, and an overall average of 85, the class exhibits a general understanding of depth of knowledge questions 1-4.With any assessment there were some outlying questions that were either worded wrong, made too easy, or made too hard.These questions were flagged due to an overall similar result throughout the classes.The question I considered too easy, and needed removal or rewording was the essay question involving the students’ personal involvement in environmental issues.If I was to keep this question, I would make it worth a depth of knowledge level 1-2, and make it worth that similar value.Another question I would reword would be the question asking to describe 3 type of pollution.I would rephrase to ask: List 3 types of pollution, and describe the cause effect and solution for each.
Formal and Informal Assessment of Student Learning
Name: Chris Dolos
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
Formal Informal Assessments 2009
II. Description of Learning Goals
A. Informal Assessment
The goal for this assessment involved active learning. The students were taken outside after a pre-lab period and performed an experiment where they could witness and play the part of the experiment themselves. They were the experiment. The pre-lab allowed for some foundation building and activation of prior knowledge to prepare them for the activity. It was important to have this pre-lab because otherwise the students would be unaware of the reasons for actually performing the experiment and what the applications of the experiment were. So the learning goals for this assessment were to: 1) acivate prior content knowledge, 2) build understanding of the purpose and procedure, 3) create an individualized hypothesis that students discovered on their own that proves their involvement and participation to this point, 4) execute the activity while understanding the goals and implications of the results and data, 5) interpretation of the data and application of it to the hard content science discused in the classroom.B. Formal Assessment
The goal of this assessment was to incorporate levels 1, 2, and 3 depth of knowledge questions in the quiz through the use of matching, fill-in the blank, and essay questions to accurately determine the level of understanding regarding environmental issues. Levels 1 and 2 provided a chance for the students to regurgitate information that exibits attention skills and general understanding of the core concepts that have been reviewed throughout the unit and should be relatively engrained at this point in the students' minds. Levels 3 and 4 provided the opportunity for the students to take that knowledge and apply it to a situation, or event that required more critical thinking skills.
III. Assessments
A. Description of Informal Assessment
The informal assessment I have chosen comes from a 10th grade College Preparatory Biology class at Chariho High School. The assessment was a lab on natural selection which was divided into 3 parts: Pre-lab (assessment of prior knowledge), Lab (Active participation in learning activity), and the conclusion which allowed for individualized performance assessment and critical thinking aspects of student learning. The assessment examined how a mutation (having use of 5 fingers over 3 fingers) affected the students’ abilities as “birds” to gather food in a pasture, when compared to those with taped fingers. A second variable was included: a predator, which was blindfolded and was roaming around the enclosed pasture. If a student was touched physically, they were “caught/ eaten” by the predator, and were included in the data as “dead”. As 5 rounds were implemented, the beneficial mutation eventually was naturally selected to become more frequently expressed in the population until everyone had use of 5 fingers.The pre-lab portion included questions designed to prepare the students for the foundational knowledge associated with the lab and the content knowledge associated with it. This also allowed those students who were absent recently to be able to prepare themselves for the lab and get caught up on the lab’s purpose and procedure. For this pre-lab, students identified key vocabulary, determined a purpose, developed a personalized hypothesis, and determined the variables. This portion was completed the first day.
The lab portion included the actual gathering of data, which was gathered outside, individually. The activity was designed to be fun for the students which promoted an atmosphere of participation. Active participation was guaranteed if the students actively participated and completed the pre-lab. This portion was completed the following day.
The conclusion and class data portion was completed at the end of the lab and carried over into the next class period. This involved active discussion during class to determine how the variables affected the results both individually, and class-wide.
B. Description of Formal Assessment
The formal assessment I am using is from a 6th grade Earth Science class, which is covering an Environmental Issues unit. After a week and a half of the unit on fossil fuels, watershed pollution, global warming, water conservation, renewable energy and acid rain, a quiz was given to assess their knowledge in the causes, effects and solutions to these issues. The quiz consisted of a matching portion, a fill-in the blank section, and an essay portion. This quiz was designed to incorporate levels 1-4 in the depth of knowledge hierarchy.IV. Analysis
A. Description of Class Context
High School CP Bio Content (10th grade):The unit on Evolution began with a discussion on Darwinian evolution, with an emphasis on natural selection. Other scientists were covered as well which aided in Darwin’s theory and our present belief in the theory of Evolution. Content information and evidence for evolution was then provided which included: The origin of life, endosymbiont theory, a poster presentation on scientists and their discoveries, natural selection, Hardy/ Weinberg Equilibrium, homologous structures, embryology, DNA, geologic time, and plate tectonics.
Middle School Earth Science Content (6th Grade):
The unit on Environmental Issues incorporated concepts that emphasized the cause and effect relationships between them. It was also important to show connections between all of the environmental issues. Once students were able to distinguish the cause and effects of a certain environmental issue, the next step was to try to make connections between each issue. The goal was to show the students, and get them to realize for themselves, that the causes of our environmental problems are mostly the same, and the solutions are many. It was also important to introduce the personalized aspect of awareness and personal contributions to solving these issues.
B. Analysis of Informal Assessment
The positives of this assessment were that the students had a great deal of fun doing it. By participating and having fun, and then recording data this allowed them to learn without realizing it. When the class data was compiled, and examined, it became clear that the activity provided about a 90% participation rate, which was also included in the grade (in a small percentage). I noticed on the unit test that many students referred to the results and conclusions from this lab when being asked questions about natural selection, beneficial mutations, and environmental factors for evolution. This goes to show that a kinesthetic activity involving difficult concepts can attract the minds of most students and provide a memory trigger that they can use to recall difficult content information.
The negatives were that some student swere absent for the pre-lab and did not have the necessary time to take advantage of the core purpose of the lab. Some students were able to grasp it and catch up, but others just came along for the fun activity without fully understanding the purpose, and the conclusions and how they relates to evolution and natural selection. Other students just did not care form the beginning, and were obviously in the activity only to disrupt other students efforts. This was handled by "naturally selecting" these individuals to suddenly "die off" with in the population. Their limited and negative involvement did not affect the class data or procedure.
C. Analysis of Formal Assessment
Overall, this assessment provided some challenges to the majority of the 6th grade team. About 25% grasped and used their content knowledge to thoroughly impress me with their ingenuity and enthusiasm in the area. But on the flip side, there are about 5 students who just do not care about studying or doing well in the class. Overall though, I feel like my goals have been met. The critical thinking questions provided some challenge for the upper level students, while still allowing for the majority of the students to provide sensible answers. I also think that the other questions on the quiz provided opportunities for the students to prove their knowledge in the content area.
V. Commentary / Reflection
A. Reflections from Informal Assessment
I initailly wanted to use tothpicks for the lab, but decided to use roman beans instead since the beans will just biodegrade easier without having chemicals from the wood seep into the ground. I had a lot of fun being the predator, and was blindfolded and walking aimlessly around the plot. ( I scared one student really good one time, and its on video). I have this lab saved for next time with some notes as well for tweaking. Those notes include: constructing the apparatii during a free period to allow for more time to be spent on prior knowledge building during pre-lab, Including a section correlating the total amount of beans recieved to the amount of offspring afforded (increased fitness). I also think that by not having all the students present for the lab prevented me form handing back the labs quickly out of fear of plagiarism. This was unfair to the students who participated on time, and according to the plan, since their memory of the event had partially faded when it finally reached their hands. I also like to write comments on the returned work, and if this was seen by tardy students, it would most likely end up as an easy assignment for those students and they would recieve no benefit from my hard work.
B. Reflections from Formal Assessment
I have realized that 6th graders need to be reminded constantly about everything. I had the phrase "study for quiz on friday" on the board for about 4 days, and yet there were numerous kids who were completely surprised when I started handing out the quiz. It astonishes me since they are required to write down their homework in their planner every period. I feel that a review session the day before the quiz day would have been a solid reminder that we were going to have a quiz. Also, as said before, I was not able to hand back and therefore go over the material on the quiz in a quick fashion due to about 5 students who were mysteriously absent on quiz day and a few days folloowing. This was unfortunate for most students who were anxiously awaiting ther results, ans asked me constantly what their grade was. After a few days they lost interest, and this is too bad beacause that interest is what I believe drives their learning and application of knowledge.
VI. Conclusions
Overall, I feel I got the most bang for my dollar from the informal assessment since it was an active, student based learning activity that required active participation and interest in the material to ensure success. This makes sence since learing is much easier when it is fun and interesting. It was also student centered and this put the power into the hands of the students to guide their own learning. If the activity was boring, then it probably would not have been successful. I think the key was that the students were learning and they didn't even realize it.For the formal assessment, I tried to challenge the class as much as possible, while still allowing for the solutions to be adequately achieved by all students. The team of 6th graders is, as a whole, a very bright group of kids and I think that they do not even realize their own potential. I will try in the future to build relationships with the fading students to get them interested in the subject matter with me, and continue pushing the limits with the higher level thinkers.
For this formal assessment, the overall class averages showed a good understanding of the material. With a range of 60-100, and an overall average of 85, the class exhibits a general understanding of depth of knowledge questions 1-4. With any assessment there were some outlying questions that were either worded wrong, made too easy, or made too hard. These questions were flagged due to an overall similar result throughout the classes. The question I considered too easy, and needed removal or rewording was the essay question involving the students’ personal involvement in environmental issues. If I was to keep this question, I would make it worth a depth of knowledge level 1-2, and make it worth that similar value. Another question I would reword would be the question asking to describe 3 type of pollution. I would rephrase to ask: List 3 types of pollution, and describe the cause effect and solution for each.